It is evident that Jainism is an ancient
religion of India and that right from hoary antiquity to the present day
it has continued to flourish, along with other religions, in different
parts of India. Jainas, the followers of Jainism, are, therefore, found
all over India from ancient times. The Jainas are also known everywhere
for the strict observance of their religious practices in their daily
lives. That is why Jainism could survive in India for the last so many
centuries. The Jainas, in this way, succeeded in continuing to exist as
devout followers of a distinct religion in India.

But this is not the only
distinguishing feature of Jainas in India. In fact, the most outstanding
characteristic of Jainas in India is their very impressive record of
contributions to Indian culture. In comparison with the limited and small
population of Jainas. the achievements of Jainas in enriching the various
aspects of Indian culture are really great.

LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

Perhaps the most creditable
contribution of Jainas is in the field of languages and literature. It is
quite evidence that right from the Vedic period two different currents of
thought and ways of life known as (a) Brahman culture and (b) Sramana
culture are prevalent in India The Sramana culture is mainly represented
by the Jainas and the Buddhists and of them the Jainas were the first to
propagate that culture. That is why from ancient times we have the Sramana
literature besides the Brahmanic literature. The characteristic features
of the Sramana literature are as follows: It disregards the system of
castes and Asramas; its heroes are, as a rule, not Gods and Rule,
but kings or merchants or even Sudras. The subjects of poetry taken up by
it are not Brahmanic myths and legends, but popular tales: fairy stories,
fables and parables. It likes to insist on the misery and sufferings of
samsara and it teaches a morality of compassion and ahimsa,
quite distinct from the ethics of Brahmanism with its ideals of the great
sacrificers and generous supporter of the priests, and of strict adherence
to the caste system.

The authors of this Sramana
literature have contributed enormously to the religious, ethical,
poetical, and scientific literature of ancient India. A close examination
of the vast religious literature of the Jainas has been made by M.
Winternitz in his 'History of Indian Literature'. In this masterly survey
of ancient Indian literature, M. Winternitz has asserted that the Jainas
were foremost in composing various kinds of narrative literature like
puranas, charitras, kathas, prabandhas, etc. Besides a very extensive
body of poetical narratives, the non-canonical literature of the Jainas
consists of an immense number of commentaries and independent works on
dogma, ethics. and monastic discipline. They also composed legends of
saints and works on ecclesiastical history. As fond of story-telling, the
Jainas were good story-tellers themselves, and have preserved for us
numerous Indian tales that otherwise would have been lost. Kavyas
and mahakavyas too, of renowned merit have been composed by Jaina
poets. Lyrical and didactic poetry are also well represented in the
literature of the Jainas.

Apart from these, the most
valuable contributions have been made by the Jainas to the Indian
scientific and technical literature on various subjects like logic,
philosophy, poetics, grammar, lexicography, astronomy, astrology,
geography, mathematics and medicine. The Jainas have paid special
attention to the arthasastra (or politics) which is considered to
be "a worldly science" par excellence. Thus there is hardly any branch of
science that has not been ably treated by the Jainas.

The literature of the
Jainas is also very important from the point of view of the history of
Indian languages for the Jainas always took care that their writings were
accessible even to the masses of the people. Hence the canonical writings
and the earliest commentaries are written in Prakrit dialects and at a
later period Sanskrit and various modern Indian languages were used by the
Jainas. That is why it is not an exaggeration when the famous Indologist
H.H. Wilson says that every province of Hindustan can produce Jaina
compositions either in Sanskrit or in its vernacular idioms. It is an
established fact that the Jainas have enriched various regional languages
and especially Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.

Regarding the Jaina
contribution to Kannada literature, the great Kannada scholar R.
Narasimhacharya has given his considered opinion in the following terms:
"The earliest cultivators of the Kannada language were Jainas. The oldest
works of any extent and value that have come down to us are all from the
pen of the Jainas. The period of the Jainas' predominance in the literary
field may justly be called the 'Augustan Age of Kannada Literature'. Jaina
authors in Kannada are far more numerous than in Tamil. To name only a
few, we have Pampa, Ponna, Ranna, Gunavarman, Nagachandra, Nayasena,
Nagavarman, Aggala, Nemichandra, Janna, Andayya, Bandhuvarma and Medhura,
whose works are admired as excellent specimens of poetical composition. It
is only in Kannada that we have a Ramayana and a Bharata
based on the Jaina tradition in addition to those based on Brahmanical
tradition. Besides kavyas written by Jaina authors, we have
numerous works by them dialing with subjects such as grammar, rhetoric,
prosody, mathematics, astrology, medicine, veterinary science, cookery and
so forth. In all the number of Jaina authors in Kannada is nearly two
hundred".

As the Jainas have produced
their vast literature in these languages from very ancient times, they
have certainly played a very important part in the development of the
different languages of India. The medium of sacred writings and preachings
of the Brahmins has all along been Sanskrit and that of the Buddha�s Pali.
But the Jainas alone utilized the prevailing languages of the different
places, besides Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhramsha, for their religious
propagation as well as for the preservation of knowledge. It is thus quite
evident that the Jainas occupy an important position in the history of the
literature and civilization of India.

ARTS AND
ARCHITECTURE

Along with literature the
Jainas have always contributed considerably to the development of the arts
in the country The Jainas have taxed their mite to enhance the glory of
India in several branches of arts. Compared with their number their
contributions appear to be very imposing and distinctive.

Architecture

It must be remembered that
Jainism did not create a special architecture of its own, for wherever the
Jainas went they adopted the local building traditions For example, while
in Northern India the Jainas followed the Vaisnava cult in building in
southern India they adhered to the Dravidian type. The stupas of
the Jainas are indistinguishable in form from those of the Buddhists, and
a Jaina curvilinear steeple is identical in outline with that of a
Brahmanical temple.

Even though the Jainas have
not evolved a distinct style of architecture, yet it must be said to their
credit that they have produced numerous and finest specimens of
architecture in different parts of the country. In this regard it is quite
clear that more than any other religion in India the Jainas have displayed
their intense love of the picturesque while selecting the sites for the
construction of their sacred buildings like temples, temple cities, cave
temples, stupas, pillars and towers. They have erected their
temples either on lonely hill-tops or in deep and secluded valleys.

Temples

As the Jaina religion
considers construction of temples as a meritorious act, the Jainas have
constructed an unusually larger number of temples throughout India. Nearly
90 percent of Jaina temples are the gifts of single wealthy individuals
and as such the Jaina temples are distinguished for elaborate details and
exquisite finish.

Of these innumerable Jaina
temples, the two marble temples at Mount Abu in Rajasthan are considered
as the most notable contributions of the Jainas in the domain of
architecture. The two temples are famous as unsurpassed models of Western
or Gujarati style of architecture which is characterized by a free use of
columns carved with all imaginable richness, strut brackets, and exquisite
marble ceilings with cusped pendants. The temples are known for the beauty
and delicacy of the carving and for the richness of the design. As Cousens
remarks:

"The amount of beautiful
ornamental detail spread over these temples in the minutely carved
decoration of ceilings, pillars, door ways, panels and niches is simply
marvelous; the crisp, thin, translucent, shell-like treatment of the
marble surpasses anything seen elsewhere and some of the designs are
veritable dreams of beauty. The work is so delicate that an ordinary
chiseling would have been disastrous. It is said that much of it was
produced by scrapping the marble away, and that the masons were paid by
the amount of marble dust so removed."

Again, the Jaina temple at
Ranakpur in Mewar, a part of Rajasthan (which was built in 1440 A.D.), is
the most complex and extensive Jaina temple in India and the most complete
for the ritual of the sect. The temple covers altogether about 48,000 sq.
feet of ground and on the merits of its design, the notable art-historian
Dr. Fergusson remarks that:

"The immense number of
parts in the building, and their general smallness, prevents its laying
claim to anything like architectural grandeur: but their variety, their
beauty of detail - no two pillars in the whole building being exactly
alike - the grace with which they are arranged, the tasteful admixture of
domes of different heights with flat ceilings, and mode in which the light
is introduced. combine to produce an excellent effect. Indeed I know of no
other building in India, of the same class that leaves so pleasing an
impression, or affords so many hints for the graceful arrangements of
columns in an interior".

The other temples of such
superb character are (i) the temple of Parsvanatha at Khajuraho in
Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh, (ii) the temple at Lakkundi in North
Karnataka, (iii) the temple known as Jinanathapura Basadi near
Sravana-belagola in South Karnataka, (iv) Seth Hathisinghi's temple at
Ahmedabad. and (v) The temple known as Hose Vasadi at Mudabidri in South
Kanara District of Karnataka.

As regards the spread of
beautiful Jaina temples in India it may be noted that the number of such
temples in India was considerably reduced during the Muslim period because
the structure of Jaina temple was such that it could easily be converted
into a mosque. The light columnar style of the Jaina temples not only
supplied materials more easily adopted to the purposes of Muslims, but
furnished hints of which the Muslim architects were not slow to avail
themselves. A mosque obtained in this way was, for convenience and beauty,
unsurpassed by anything the Muslims afterwards erected from their own
original designs. Thus the great mosques of Ajmer, Delhi, Kanauj and
Ahmedabad are merely reconstruction on the temples of Hindus and Jainas.

Temple-cities

Further, the grouping
together of their temples into what may be called 'Cities of Temples' is a
peculiarity which the Jainas have practiced to a greater extent than the
followers of any other religion in India. Such notable temple cities are
found, among other places, at (i) Satrunjaya or Palitana in Gujarat, (ii)
Girnar in Gujarat. (iii) Sammed-Shikhara in Bihar (iv) Sonagiri in
Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh, (v) Muktagiri in Vidarbha, Maharashtra,
(vi) Kunthalgiri in Marathwada, Maharashtra, (vii) Sravana-belagola in
Hassan District, Karnataka and (viii) Mudabidri in South Kanara District,
Karnataka.

Cave-temples

Again, the Jainas also like
the Buddhists, built several cave-temples cut in rocks from the early
times. But in dimensions, the Jaina cave temples were smaller than the
Buddhist ones because the Jaina religion gave prominence to
individualistic and not to congregational ritual. The most numerous
cave-temples are in Udayagiri and Khandagiri Hills in Orissa. The
picturesqueness of their forms, the character of their sculptures, and the
architectural details combined with their great antiquity render them one
of the most important groups of caves in India. These and those of
Junagadh in Gujarat belong to the second century B.C. while the others are
of a later date of which the important ones are found at (i) Aihole and
Badami in Bijapur District (Karnataka), (ii) Ankai and Patana in Khandesh
District (Maharashtra), (iii) Ellora and Oosmanabad in Marathwada (Maharashtra),
(iv) Chamar Lena near Nasik City (Maharashtra), and (v) Kalugumalai in
Tinnevelly District (Tamilnadu).

Stupas

Like the Buddhists, Jainas
also erected stupas in honor of their saints, with their
accessories of stone railings, decorated gateways, stone umbrellas,
elaborate carved pillars and abundant statues. Early examples of these
have been discovered in the Kankali mound near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh,
and they are supposed to belong to the first century B.C.

Mana-stambhas or Pillars

Another remarkable
contribution of the Jainas in the field of architecture is the creation of
many stambhas or pillars of pleasing design and singular grace
which are found attached to many of their temples. In connection with
these manastambhas, as they are popularly called, the famous
authority on Jaina architecture, Dr. James Fergusson, states that it may
be owing to the iconoclastic propensities of the Muslims that these
pillars are not found so frequently where they have held sway, as in the
remoter parts of India; but, whether for this cause or not, they seem to
be more frequent in south India than in any other part of India. Dr. James
Fergusson further suggests that there may be some connection between these
Jaina stambhas and the obelisks of the Egyptians. Regarding these
Jaina pillars in the South Kanara District of Karnataka, the research
scholar Mr. Walhouse has remarked that "the whole capital and canopy are a
wonder of light, elegant, highly decorated stone work, and nothing can
surpass the stately grace of these beautiful pillars whose proportions and
adaptation to surrounding scenery are always perfect, and whose richness
of decoration, never offends." According to another eminent authority on
Indian Architecture, Dr. Vincent Smith, in the whole range of Indian Art
there is nothing perhaps equal to these pillars in the Kanara District for
good taste.